I had every intention of posting status updates as I read this, but I literally could not put it down. I didn't even stop to go to the bathroom and that's an amazing feat for somebody that's 8 months pregnant.

*deep breath* That was fucking awesome. I'm not even sure where to begin. Other than at the beginning...

We start off with a bang! Caleb Devereaux driving like a maniac through the woods to find Ramie St. Claire - he needs her to use her psychic abilities to find his kidnapped sister. And he's not taking "no" for an answer. Ramie is successful, but suffers immensely for it. This is a gripping scene that absolutely guts you. It's horrifyingly and perfectly written - I was in tears. By the end of chapter one, you're drained just as surely as Ramie.

Over a year later, Ramie's in trouble. A sadistic serial killer has forged a psychic connection with Ramie and is hunting her - she's to be his prize trophy. The ultimate kill. He'll stop at nothing. Ramie is broken, she is on the verge of welcoming her own death after years of suffering from her psychic "gift" and being stalked by this madman. Maya Banks, again, wrote this perfectly. You could feel Ramie's despair dripping off the pages. She's almost ready to give up. Enter Caleb, whom she calls in a last ditch effort to save herself. He completely takes over, drags her to his home and vows to protect her.

But the killer won't give up just because Ramie now has a white knight. He uses other victims to bait Ramie, to torture her psychically. It's truly disturbing the lengths this killer will go to and I think the author did a really good job of making him intensely evil and threatening without going overboard into bonkers insane territory. He was intelligent, determined, and resourceful. Not a good combo for the good guys.

The meat of this story consists of Ramie realizing that she's tired of running, doesn't want to hide, and needs to go on the offensive. Be proactive. While Caleb just wants to protect her. It was interesting to watch her come out of her shell and decide to use her "gift" to beat the killer at his own game. Not that it was entirely effective, but it made for a damn good read!

But the best part of this book was the twist. OH MY GOD! We get hints of it throughout the story, well... hints of the possibility of it, really. But when it happens, it was so much more and so much worse than you could have expected. Again, Maya Banks completely gutted me. First with the betrayal, then with the horror of it, and then again with the characters' reactions to it. I so badly want to spoil it, but I just can't... it's too good to spoil!

So often I have a problem with the heroine because she's weak, but doesn't realize she's weak. Ramie thinks she's weak, but she's anything but. She may have hidden and run away from things, but that was the only way she could survive. Caleb's character was a teensy bit flat at times, but I think that's okay because this is truly Ramie's story. The supporting cast of Caleb's siblings were frustrating - I understood why they behaved the way they did, but I didn't like it. The security specialists, Eliza and Dane, were awesome. I have a feeling they will both end up being romantic interests for a couple of the Devereaux siblings in future books.

This book is fast paced and you don't really notice that things never slow down because everything you're reading is so engaging. You just have to find out what happens next. It's a romantic suspense, but I'd say it's more of a suspense than romance. The romance is there, for sure. But the suspense grabs you much more than the romance does. I felt the romance developed quickly, but steadily. I really enjoyed it.

All in all, I have zero complaints. Not a one. This is probably the best I've read from Maya Banks and I strongly recommend it.